Fed: Card Payments Up 10.1 Pct In 2017

Non-cash payment activity, as measured in the United States, gained ground in 2017 year over year, according to the Federal Reserve’s triennial payments press release on Thursday (Dec. 20). Among the numbers was the fact that the number of card payments were up 10.1 percent.

That card payment data, according to the Fed, includes credit cards, debit cards and prepaid debit cards. The value of those transactions was up 8.4 percent. The data also showed that non-cash payments growth was higher in the latest measured period, and was accelerated as compared to previous periods.

Within that mix, prepaid debit cards were up 10.5 percent, and debit cards that were not prepaid grew by 10.4 percent.

Debit card payments made up 66.9 percent of card payments in 2017, said the Fed, and “in a departure from previous reporting periods, a surge was seen in the number of prepaid and non-prepaid debit card payments relative to credit card payments.”

There remains a decline in check payments, which the Fed noted was off during the 2017 period, year on year by 4.8 percent. That decline was accelerated from the 3.6 percent rate that had been seen between 2015 to 2016. The value of those check payments slipped by 7.5 percent over the latest measured period, up from a 3.6 percent rate the previous year.

“Network automated clearinghouse (ACH) payments grew faster, with network ACH payments increasing 5.7 percent by number and 6.9 percent by value from 2016 to 2017. The growth for network ACH payments was 5.3 percent by number and 5.1 percent by value from 2015 to 2016,” the Federal Reserve said.

In addition, ATM data was mixed, as the number of withdrawals was off 2.8 percent and up 50 basis points by value.